The National University of the South (in Spanish: Universidad Nacional del Sur, UNS) is the largest national university in southern Argentina. Its motto is Ardua Veritatem, which means "through the difficulties to the truth". The university was founded on January 5, 1956, and absorbed what had been the Technological Institute of South (Instituto Tecnológico del Sur, ITS), a former National University of La Plata affiliate established in 1946. Located in the city of Bahía Blanca, the school became the sixteenth in Argentina's national university system.